Page 21 of My Darling Clementine

Clem raised Kizzy’s hand and nibbled on her wrist, licked her pulse point, and held her gaze while asking, “What game are you playing?”

Chapter six

Bona Fides

“I’m not playing a game.” Enigmatic eyes, blue as a summer sky, took her measure.

Feeling flushed, Clem fought the urge to push Kizzy down on the bed and climb on top of her. She didn’t know whether to kiss her again, or run out the door. Miss Keziah Walker knocked her for a loop. She let her gaze drop to the full breasts and watched them rise and fall with shallow breaths.

“Why did you take the chance of inviting a stranger to your hotel room? You don’t know who I am. What if I wanted to hurt you?”

Kizzy smiled, reached under her pillow, and pulled out her pistol. “Some people don’t listen. I have this to make sure they do.” She put it on the dresser beside the bed. “When I say no, I mean no.” Her eyes twinkled. “But when I say yes, it’s yes all the way.” She looked at Clem’s lips, then licked her own, an obvious invitation for another kiss.

What a woman! She knew me at a glance, invited me to her room for a midnight rendezvous prepared with a pistol to protect herself, and now she wants me to take her with me?

All the rules were off the table with this fascinating young woman. Clem never formed romantic relationships, didn’t seduce strangers, and wanted this one more than anyone she’d ever met. As much as she wanted to, she didn’t take the offered kiss. She held back, needing to know what she was getting into.

Kizzy spoke in the soft modulated tones of a lady. “I invited you here for one reason, Clem, to find out how you look so much like a man.” She turned up the wick of the lamp, casting the room in a brighter light.

Relieved and annoyed, Clem started to move back, when Kizzy surprised her by grabbing her ears and pulling her close, nose to nose. “You know as well as I do, it’s easier to be a man.”

Attentive, intrigued, she shook her head. “Easier, no.” A shiver ran up her spine as Kizzy trailed a fingertip along her shoulder. The dimple dancing in her cheek was the most delightful thing she’d ever seen. “Freer, bigger, greater, yes.”

“Do you have breasts as large as mine?” Kizzy asked, bold hands running over Clem’s chest. “If so, how come I don’t see them?” Sweet, juicy lips kissed the corner of Clem’s mouth, a soft tongue licked her smile.

“But what I really want to know,” said the woman seducing the hell out of her, “is what you’ve got tucked between your legs.” Expressive eyes teased, making promises. “I want you to show me.”

“Happy to oblige.” Clem closed the distance and took the offered kiss. Kizzy’s lips, soft and tender, parted with an eagerness she couldn’t fake. Their tongues dipped and swirled, advancing and retreating in a dance of temptation. “I’ll be happy to show you. And a demonstration of how it works if you’d like.”

“We shall see what we shall see.” Kizzy followed a saucy wink with a flirtatious smile.

Even more aroused, Clem grinned. “Then allow me to expose you to my secrets of how to look like a man.” She rose from the bed and removed her coat, hanging it on the back of the chair, then took her time undoing the buttons of the heavy brocade vest. “I wear clothes that are concealing; some materials disguise my shape better than others.”

Leaving it open, she unbuttoned her shirt; first the sleeve cuffs, and then starting from the bottom worked her way up. When the last came undone, she shrugged both shirt and vest off, letting them drop to the floor and stood there as Kizzy sat up to better examine the layers of tight linen binding her breasts.

“Come here,” she commanded.

Clem obeyed, moving close and standing beside her, presenting her binding at eye level.

Finding the tucked-in end, Kizzy plucked it free and began unwinding the linen, rewinding it in her other hand as she passed it around Clem a dozen times. Her hands slowed, eyes lit with desire. Instead of continuing to unwind the last layers of fabric, its looseness let her hands slide under the remaining layers, cool against Clem’s warm skin. She spread her fingers wide; the rest of the linen unraveled and fell away.

Clem’s breasts, with their large, inverted nipples, sprang free on her muscular chest, and she breathed deep with relief. “That’s one of the hard parts,” she admitted. “When you’re working bound up tight you’ve got to concentrate on getting enough breath or you’ll pass out. You don’t want that to happen because some helpful busybody will loosen your clothes and there you’ll be,” she waved her hands at her bare breasts and shook them, “tits exposed to one and all.”

She placed both hands on her hips, bold and bare-breasted, staring at Kizzy sitting in bed with a prim and proper nightgown buttoned up to her neck. Clem nodded her head. “Your turn,” she said, stepping back and crossing her arms over her chest.

Kizzy’s curious eyes examined her with admiration. “I’ve never seen a woman with as many muscles as you, your stomach looks like a washboard. I feel a bit easier about myself now.” She unbuttoned the top of the nightgown and tugged her arms free of the sleeves, letting it fall around her waist, her bottom half still hidden under the covers. She lifted her full breasts and pinched her own nipples before letting them fall free against her chest.

“You do look strong.” Clem sat on the bed admiring Kizzy, running both hands up and down her muscled arms, appreciating the firm biceps. “And you feel,” her hands swept in to claim her breasts, “soft as a spring lamb.” She kissed this fascinating woman, caressing, palming, and squeezing before dropping her hands to her trim waist and tugging at the bedclothes.

A firm hand stopped her there. Pulling back from the kiss, Kizzy winked and whispered, “No, no, no. It’s time for the big revelation. Before I show you mine, I want to see yours.” She nodded at Clem. “Go on, now. Show me what you’ve got hidden in them britches.” She winked.

“I’ve never known any woman like you before,” said Clem, standing to step back for a full-length view. “You say what you want.”

“You’re not like any woman I ever met, either.” Kizzy grinned and plucked her nipples. “And you asked me what I wanted.” She waggled an eyebrow.

“So I did,” Clem agreed. Undoing her belt, she slid it free in a single fluid motion. Tall, strong, aware of her size, she whispered, “There’re a few things I want, too, but we’ll satisfy you first.” She admired Kizzy’s breasts as she undid her button-fly jeans and shoved them down to her knees, revealing ordinary men’s underwear bulging from her center. Undoing a button, she shoved them down to her thighs, revealing a leather sausage sewn between several other pairs of short-legged men’s drawers.

Without being told, Clem approached the bed and shook her hips, waving her handmade johnson at Kizzy’s breasts. “Ever seen something like this before?”